Funded hours / tax free child care question

You can put however much you would like to add to the tax-free account, they automatically add 20% to the account when you do this. For example If my invoice comes to £100 & I put £120 it will top up the £120 by 20% & then you pay the invoice using the money in the account. I am always adding more than what is needed each month so that during the periods which is unfunded (not term time) and will cost more money I will have the extra money saved up. Also it's good to do incase of any emergencies & you need to skip a month's payment That's how I'm doing it

@SarahAh thanks for this. I hadn't even factored that in. So which you pay the invoice do you select the amount you want to pay from the gov website? As in the extra will just sit there ?

I was invoiced first - so I added X amount into the account to cover the cost and then I just set up a monthly standing order with the same amount on Payday to go into the account. You pay the invoice through the Tax-free childcare page - 1. you need to set up your childcare provider there. 2. Put money into the account (they then add the top-up automatically into your account) 3. Pay the amount you want to send to your childcare provider from the government Website. That's it really

Once you do it once it will all make sense - if you have any other questions let me know